Chapter Text
His body would not stop aching. His stomach burned the most. It was as if he had been-
Kastor's eyes flew open, gasping for air. The ceiling above him was white but unfamiliar and… lower. He kicked out, his legs wrapped and tangled up in sheets. He continued to roll around until, suddenly, the soft give of what must have been a bed underneath him disappeared and Kastor landed on the floor. Hard.
“Fuck!” He struggled out of the sheets until he was free. His head throbbed with pain as well as his abdomen. Because he had been stabbed.
He died. And now he was lying on the floor of an unfamiliar place.
"What have I done to deserve this?" Kastor grumbled.
Frantic knocking startled Kastor out of his musings.
"Kastor, are you okay?! I know you don't want me bothering you, but I heard a loud noise and I got worried."
Ice spread through Kastor's veins. He recognized that voice. He thought he would never be forced to hear that voice ever again, much less hear about the person it belonged to. Pushing himself off the floor, Kastor stomped toward a closed door where the knocking was coming from. He twisted at the strange knob only for it to not even move. In the middle of the simple knob, a small piece moved separately when Kastor turned it in a different direction. Trying the knob again, the door opened.
And Kastor was face to face with Damen, his eyes so nauseatingly worried that it twisted his stomach into knots.
"You're okay, right?" Damen asked again.
In one moment, Kastor saw red. The next, he saw Damen clutching his face as he stumbled back.
His knuckles ached.
"Why are you here?" Kastor said, rage burning in his chest. Damen only stared at him with watery eyes, acting as if it was so shocking to have been hit. He has been hit before; he always brushed it off with a ridiculous smile. "I don't know what is happening, but I think I've made it clear just how much I never want to see you for as long as I breathe. Get it through your head: I fucking-"
This time, it was Kastor who was sent reeling, holding his temple after something hit it.
"Ow! Did you fucking hit me?!" he shouted. Damen looked ridiculous, a man his size cowering from a measly threat. Kastor almost said exactly that when-
"Don't you dare cuss at me or your brother." That voice… It was familiar with how childhood memories were. Kastor's very soul recognized it, but it was far too good to be real.
And yet, the woman whom Kastor had not heard speak for twenty-five years (because she, too, had died because of Damen) stood in front of him. Dark brown curls cascaded down her back. Her clothing was strange, a loose undershirt that was a style Kastor did not recognize and black leg coverings close to her skin. On one foot, she wore a shoe that was lined with fur; her other food was bare. Looking at his own feet, Kastor realized that what must have hit him in the head was the other shoe. He looked back at her.
Damen inherited his dimple from her. However, it was not visible. Egeria's face was creased with a horrible frown. Well, she frowned when she looked at him. Of course, her face softened when she looked at her son. She approached them the way one would to not startle the fauna and bent down to pick up her shoe.
"Looks like I still have it. Never doubt your mama, huh?" Egeria chuckled. Damen tried to give her a smile, but he winced. Kastor must have hit him harder than he thought. Good. He froze when Egeria faced him again. Her frown was still vicious, but her eyes were sad.
Kastor had forgotten her eyes were a gentle hazel.
“Damen, go downstairs and help Nessa finish with breakfast.” It was not said as an order, but Damen still complied. He looked over his shoulder several times before finally disappearing as he took the stairs. Now, Kastor was left alone with a woman once dead standing in front of him. They were both silent for far too long before Egeria crossed her arms and said, “Well?”
“What?” Clearly, that was the wrong answer to give. Egeria sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.
“Kastor, please. We’ve discussed this already. I am unwilling to give you another chance. I see anything like what you just did again, and I will not hesitate in making you face the full consequences.” And that…
That was a threat. His memories were old and faded, but surely not so much so that Kastor would have remembered Egeria speaking that way to anyone. Never to him. A honey voice tainted with venom.
Slowly, Kastor nodded. Sighing again, Egeria tucked a loose strand of hair behind his ear. His hair was longer than he had ever worn it. It was a strange but comforting weight. “Will you tell me why, exactly, you punched your brother? You could have broken his nose.”
“Good.”
“Kastor, please. ”
“Fine,” he forced the word out from behind gritted teeth. “I just… I wasn’t expecting to see him. I got angry.”
“Well, we did hear a very heavy thud come from your room. Of course Damen would want to make sure you’re okay. Imagine if you knocked your head against the nightstand,” Egeria chuckled. It was… kind. She was not laughing at him, simply at the ridiculous circumstance he found himself in.
She was still wonderful.
“Why is Damen here?” That was a safe question to ask, it had to be. Egeria raising an eyebrow did not provide Kastor a clear answer to that thought.
“Maybe you did hit your head. We told you weeks ago that Damen is going to be visiting for the summer.” Egeria pushed his head down, gently pressing her fingers against his scalp as she searched for any tenderness. He winced when she touched his temple. “That’s where I got you, right? I’m sorry for that, dear. It’s an old instinct at this point.”
“Uh, yeah. I might have hit my head there, too.”
“Oh. Oops.”
“It’s alright.” Kastor pulled away from her touch. She was careful not to make it hurt, but her very presence left an ache in his chest. “You mentioned breakfast?”
“If you feel up to it, of course.” Egeria led the way, though she did not realize that.
Kastor let his eyes wander as they made their way downstairs. The hallways were not grand and the ceiling did not try to reach the heavens. The walls were not made of marble; they should be considered bland. Instead, they were bizarre.
The walls were decorated with paintings of Kastor, his family, and Damen. They varied in size, and each one was so realistic that he could not imagine the pains it took to capture every single detail.
He did find it strange how so many of the ones with Damen had him smiling. As irritating as he could be, not even Damen could smile for the entirety of a portrait being made. Theomedes would never let him, regardless.
Downstairs was very similar. Most of the decorations aside from the furniture were countless portraits. No one was excluded from excluded from the family portraits. There seemed to be an agreed-upon positioning for who stood where: Theomedes in the middle, Hypermenestra and Egeria standing beside him, and Kastor and Damen standing beside their respective mothers.
Kastor did not realize how strange it was to see himself smile so often.
What was also strange was seeing his mother—and Damen— cooking. While Egeria crossed the threshold and joined the pair, Kastor was frozen in place.
Wherever he was, it was a strange place. He did not like it.
He was not sure how long he stood still, but it was certainly long enough that a voice behind him said, “Poor lad’s been turned into a statue. Medea finally got him.”
“It’s Medusa, Papa. Medea was a witch,” Damen said, not even shifting his attention away from whatever was in the pan in front of him. “I’m adding tomatoes!”
It should have been a shove, but it wasn’t; Theomedes gently moved Kastor to the side and took only two steps to stand beside his other son. He was… alive. Theomedes was alive and standing right in front of him, his back turned like Kastor wouldn’t stab him.
Well, he didn’t do that, exactly.
“I don’t like tomatoes.”
“I know, Papa. I didn’t forget. Your plate’s already there,” Damen jerked his head in the direction of a wooden table, a plate with scrambled eggs, strips of meat, and fresh fruit already in place. It was polished but simple, large enough for ten people to be seated.
The perfect table for a family this size.
Theomedes only laughed and made his way to the table. He had the same face, but he carried a belly Kastor only ever saw on kyroi who were too comfortable in their positions and had never lifted a blade.
He seemed happy.
Kastor could only watch as his mother and Egeria brought the rest of the plates to the table, arranging it so everyone sat on one half of the table. Together.
“Glad to see you alive, sleepyhead. I’ll forgive you for not helping me with breakfast this time, but you’re on dinner duty tonight,” his mother said. Her clothing was similar to Egeria’s, and her dark hair was loosely tied up in a bun. Egeria lightly slapped Hypermenestra’s arm before smiling at him.
“I won’t make you do too much, just a little assistance,” she said. Damen joined them, taking a seat at the head of the table. Like a king.
He smiled at Kastor. It wasn’t strained. His nose wasn’t even crooked.
“Kastor, are you alright? I was just teasing,” Hypermenestra said, lines creasing her forehead. “If you don’t feel so good, we won’t force you to help with dinner.”
“Do you need any painkillers? I think we still have some of the strong stuff,” Egeria said, rising from her chair and searched through a random drawer.
“No, no. I’m fine,” Kastor mumbled. His head still throbbed but not as painful as it was earlier. The pain of his abdomen had almost disappeared. He finally moved from where he stood and took a seat next to his mother.
They ate in a comfortable silence until Theomedes cleared his throat. “Well, don’t keep us in the dark. How was uni, Damen? We missed you a lot.”
“He’s going to pretend otherwise, but your father missed you more than he wants to admit,” Egeria said with a grin. Theomedes stuttered to defend himself but couldn’t seem to find any words. Kastor poked at the eggs.
“It was great! I really like Marlas, there’s still so much to do. Only one of my professors sucked, but at least it was an easy class,” Damen said. “I decided to take on a minor in Veretian, too.”
“That’s wonderful! Look at you, already done with your second year!” Hypermenestra exclaimed, a hand placed over her heart. “Before we know it, you’re going to move out forever and you’ll never want to visit your old folks.”
“Nessa, please, I would never.” Everyone seemed to find that funny . Kastor was the only one who didn’t laugh. “I think our grades are finalized at the end of this week so I can show you how I did.”
“I’m sure you did great, love.”
“Thanks, Mama.”
“Kas, do you have anything to say to Damen?” Theomedes spoke to him. Kastor stared at his face. His beard was shaped differently, cut closer to his jaw, and a bit unruly. He turned his gaze to Damen. Expecting praise, of course. The smile Kastor gave him was vile.
“You should have stayed in Marlas. We shouldn’t have to deal with your self-important behavior,” he said. It was the truth and a weight freed from his shoulders.
“Kastor!” Theomedes shouted, his fist slamming the table. He must not have seen how poorly his prompting would backfire. “That was uncalled for.”
“Should I have been harsher then? I have more to say,” Kastor spoke back. He hadn’t done that in a long time. It felt good. His father would have ended the conversation with a crack across the face, but this Theomedes only fumed, his face turning red. Kastor raised his eyebrows for a moment, but no one else responded. He returned to his plate and finally took a bite.
It was good. Maybe it would have tasted better had Damen not made it.
Kastor only regretted his words when the silence became suffocating. A clatter of utensils came from the head of the table, followed by the chair scraping against the floor as Damen stood.
“I just remembered that I signed up for a summer research project.” His attempt at a lighthearted chuckle fell apart. “I’m gonna go to the library. I’ll be back later.” Egeria’s attempt to slow her son down was futile. Not long after Damen left the table, a door closed.
Kastor was the only one eating.
“I cannot believe you,” Hypermenestra muttered under her breath. She didn’t spare a glance at Kastor, only picking up her empty plate and Damen’s half-finished one. Placing everything in her hands into a basin, she made her exit without another word. Sighing, Egeria set down a bottle of the painkillers she had looked for on the table before following Hypermenestra, leaving Kastor with Theomedes.
His face was no longer red, only disappointed. He crossed his arms. Kastor took a bite of the meat. His plate had meat, unlike Damen. He wondered what that could have meant.
“Your brother has been looking forward to visiting for weeks. He was excited to come back home for the summer.” Theomedes sighed and collected his and Egeria’s plates. “He was excited to see you again.”
Kastor didn’t respond, only taking another bite of his food. Theomedes turned a handle next to the basin, and water came out of the faucet. He washed the plates and utensils inside. Kastor wrinkled his nose at the strange sight of a man wearing the face of a king performing the job of a slave.
When he was finished, Theomedes turned to Kastor and said, “Wash up when you’re finished eating. Apologize to Damen when he comes back.” Then he, too, was gone.
And Kastor would do no such thing. He would not apologize for telling the truth. He may not understand this world but he was certain that the Kastor whose place he had taken would have felt the same.